Project dossier · Central Ohio, Ohio

Microsoft Central Ohio Campuses Under construction

$1B investment across 3 campuses in Central Ohio. Under construction.

Key facts

Operator: Microsoft
Owner: Microsoft
Location: Central Ohio, Ohio
Stage today: Under construction

What to do next

Next step: Under construction — pull the approved conditions and permits and hold the builder to them; an expansion or a new building reopens the record.

Build an action pack for this project →

What has happened so far (18 events)

2023-10-31filing
Microsoft-linked entities purchase three parcels totaling 291 acres along Refugee Road SW and Etna Parkway in Pataskala, Licking County, for $30.65 million. · source
2024-01-01coverage
Microsoft Licking County land purchases (eventually topping 700 acres across New Albany, Heath, Hebron, and Pataskala/Johnstown) first reported publicly, ahead of any formal project announcement. · source
2024-05-14filing
AEP Ohio files an application with PUCO proposing a new large-load/data-center rate tariff, a case in which Microsoft later becomes a formal party. · source
2024-09-01announcement
The Columbus Dispatch confirms Microsoft plans to construct a $420 million, 245,000 sq ft data center on a 200-acre Beech Road site in New Albany. · source
2024-10-02vote
New Albany City Council unanimously approves a 15-year, 100% property tax abatement for Microsoft $420 million Beech Road data center. · source
2024-10-28announcement
Microsoft formally announces a $1 billion first-phase investment in three Central Ohio data center campuses in New Albany, Heath, and Hebron (Licking County). · source
2024-10-28incentive
Ohio Tax Credit Authority approves a 15-year, 100% sales-tax exemption for Microsoft three Licking County campuses, estimated at $72.5 million in forgone state revenue. · source
2024-11-01construction
Site clearing begins at the New Albany Beech Road campus with silt-fence installation and a construction access road built, briefly narrowing Beech Road to one lane. · source
2025-04-09withdrawal
Microsoft tells the Columbus Dispatch and local mayors it is pausing its $1 billion Licking County plans at New Albany, Heath, and Hebron, citing investment-strategy evaluation; says it will retain the land. · source
2025-07-09ruling
PUCO adopts AEP Ohio data-center tariff requiring large data centers (including Microsoft facilities) to pay for at least 85% of contracted electric capacity for up to 12 years, with a four-year ramp-up. · source
2025-07-23utility
AEP Ohio new data-center tariff takes effect, requiring qualifying large-load facilities above 25 MW to pay 85% of subscribed monthly capacity. · source
2026-02-19construction
Microsoft signs a construction contract with Ames Construction for the Hebron data center, setting a bulk-construction window of March-August 2026 targeting completion by November 2026. · source
2026-02-24construction
Microsoft holds groundbreaking ceremonies and resumes construction at Heath and Hebron campuses after a roughly one-year pause; declines real-estate tax abatements at both, benefiting Lakewood Local School District. · source
2026-03-31filing
Microsoft purchases an additional 43 acres at Etna Parkway and Refugee Road in Pataskala for $11.44 million, adjacent to its earlier 291-acre acquisition. · source
2026-05-29hearing
Ohio Select Committee on Data Centers begins formal legislative hearings on data center growth, water/electricity demand, tax incentives, and NDAs. · source
2026-06-01hearing
Ohio Joint Data Center Committee hears over four hours of public testimony from researchers, activists, and residents on data centers electric/water demand, environmental impact, tax incentives, and NDAs; over 50 Ohio local governments reported to have data-center moratoriums. · source
2026-06-04hearing
Microsoft senior director Daniel Brown testifies before Ohio Select Committee, announcing Microsoft will stop using NDAs with local governments and will not seek local property tax abatements at its four Licking County sites; Amazon, Google, and Meta decline similar pledges. · source
2026-06-10filing
Ohio state Sen. Brian Chavez introduces sweeping data-center legislation on tax breaks, NDAs, water use/testing, and utility billing, drawing on Select Committee testimony. · source

Find the paper trail

Find the paper trail (0 filed · 11 places to look)

State environmental permits

Backup generators, water withdrawal and stormwater are permitted by the state, usually earlier and in more detail than anything filed locally.

Ohio EPA — Division of Air Pollution ControlThe program page: which permits this state requires, and the office that issues them.
Ohio EPA eBusiness Center (Air Services)Searchable public filings — search the operator, the shell LLC on the deed, and the address.

County & town filings

The rezoning application, site plan, traffic and noise studies, staff report and every revision.

Search Central Ohio planning filingssearchPlanning departments post application files under many different names. Find the department, then ask the clerk for the application number — that number unlocks everything else.
Search Central Ohio property records / GISsearchThe parcel record names the buying LLC and the sale date, which is what ties an anonymous filing to an operator.

Utility & grid records

The electricity request is filed with the grid operator and the utility long before the town hears about it — and states the real load.

PJM Interconnection (Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley) — interconnection queueRequested megawatts, queue position and target in-service date. The MW here is the real number; the one at the town meeting is often phase one.
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio — docket searchSpecial contracts, large-load tariffs and rate cases are docketed here. Testimony and exhibits are public, and are usually more candid than the press release.
FERC eLibraryFederal filings: transmission agreements, interconnection service agreements, and co-location disputes.
Search the serving utility for a will-serve lettersearchThe will-serve or load-service letter is the utility's own written commitment. Ask the utility and the PUC for it by name — it is frequently the first document to exist.

Federal databases

Works anywhere, and covers the operator's record at its other sites.

EPA ECHO facility searchEvery federally-reported air, water and waste permit at a facility, plus its inspection and violation history. Search by address or draw a radius around the site.
EPA EnvirofactsThe same underlying records, queryable by county — useful for 'what else is permitted near this site' rather than one facility.
EPA Facility Registry ServiceResolves the shell LLC on a permit to the facility it belongs to. Worth a look when the filing name means nothing locally.

These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records. What to ask for.

Around here

Ohio briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts.

Other tracked projects in Ohio

Aligned Data Centers - Pataskala industrial park — Pataskala (Licking County) Awaiting decision
Google Columbus — Columbus Operating
Google Lancaster — Lancaster Operating
Google New Albany — New Albany Operating
Meta Prometheus — New Albany Operating

Cite this page: GridWatch AI, “Microsoft Central Ohio Campuses”, aigridwatch.com/projects/microsoft-central-ohio, retrieved 2026-10-11.

As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing

A working set of identified proposals a community can track, not a census — most of the country's activity is not in here yet. Pennsylvania is the exception: its rows are synced from PA DEP's own data-center permit tracker, so the state's coverage is close to complete and carries the permit trail with it. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to reporting or the governing body's own record and were read on that date; rows marked *unverified* have no source on record — a lead to check, not a fact to cite. **Stage is derived, not asserted.** *Hearing scheduled*, *Awaiting decision*, *Approved* and *Withdrawn* are computed from each row's milestone dates on every rebuild, so a hearing date that has passed stops reading 'scheduled'. Hearings get moved and projects re-file under new names — treat a scheduled date as the earliest to act by, and confirm with the clerk before relying on it. Leads are mined into data/project_candidates.json and promoted here only after a human reads a primary source.

Part of the data center project tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0 (JSON · CSV).